The present invention relates to an energy conserving system for heating and cooling the equipment and environment of a manufacturing installation, and more particularly, a printing plant.
By the way of background, in a printing plant employing heat treating apparatuses such as web presses, great amounts of heat are necessary for heating the web press ovens through which printed paper webs pass for drying. In the past, these ovens have been gas fired and have therefore utilized fossil fuels. In addition, printing plants in the past have utilized various types of fossil fuels, such as coal, gas, or oil for comfort heating purposes. Also, cooling of printing plants has usually been effected by the use of refrigeration apparatus utilizing electrical energy. Considering the large size of the printing industry in the United States, large amounts of energy from fossil fuel and electrical sources were thus required.
By way of further background, large amounts of waste papers are generated by web presses used in the printing industry. In the past, this waste paper has been baled and sold or otherwise disposed of. The amount of waste paper generated by a relatively small web press printing installation has sufficient energy, when incinerated, to produce enough heat for the ovens of the web presses and for plant comfort heating requirements. In addition, cooling water from wells can be utilized for plant comfort cooling and dehumidification and for cooling the printed webs to facilitate drying.